John 12:12-16 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,… Two things strike us at the outset. 1. The highest majesty under the garb of meanness. Christ as a mere man was great. But how does this "Prince of the kings of the earth" enter Jerusalem? In a triumphal chariot? On a prancing steed, accompanied by a magnificent cavalcade? No! On an ass. The more truly kingly a man is, the less he cares for conventional pageantry. Hearts of oak requires neither veneer nor varnish. A great age has never been an age of millinery and gold rings. "Howe'er it be, it seems to me," etc. 2. An eternal idea developed in an apparently incidental appearance. It seemed perfectly casual that Christ should have required a creature to ride upon, and that there should be such a creature at hand; but all this was but the carrying out of an eternal plan, indicated six hundred years before. Caprice and impulse had no part in the control of Christ's life. The life of virtue is never that of accident; it is always the unfoldment of an eternal idea. We have here — I. THE POPULACE, a type of the unsophisticated masses unbiassed by doctrinal and ecclesiastical prejudices. These men — 1. Saw Divine royalty under the garb of secular meanness. Men in our age and land are so blinded by pride and prejudice that they can discover no moral greatness under the garb of poverty. 2. Because enraptured with the morally great for its own sake. Conscience is bound by the law of its own constitution to exult in the right and morally great. "I delight in the law of God after the inner man." 3. Felt the reality of Christ's miracle. The sophisticated and prejudiced tried to argue it away, and refused to believe it. But the common people saw it, and had no interest in denying it. Thus the "people" went with Christ and honoured Him; and this they will always do if Christ is presented to them as He really is, not as metamorphosed by churches and creeds. II. THE DISCIPLES. 1. They were partially informed (ver. 16). They knew nothing of what Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9) uttered in relation to Christ. Though they had been with Christ so long, and heard Him expound the Scriptures, they were yet very ignorant. 2. They were enlightened by history. After Christ had ascended, and the Spirit come down, a new light dawned upon them. The facts of His life were brought vividly to their minds, and were compared with their older Scriptures, when they saw the fulfilment, of ancient predictions. History is the best interpreter of prophecy. III. THE PHARISEES (ver 19). These men were — 1. Bound to acknowledge the failure of their efforts. "Ye prevail nothing." All the antagonists of Christianity will have to acknowledge this sooner or later. 2. Bound to acknowledge a most disagreeable fact. "The world is gone after Him." (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, |
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